Dolores, Woman of Sorrow
by Adamantwrites
Summary: A woman Adam patronized is found dead but who killed her is a mystery. Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. All OC's and plot are the property of the author. No copyright infringement in intended.
1. Chapter 1

Dolores, Woman of Sorrow

Part 1

The small Chinese woman began to chastise Adam as he came up the stairs. "Mistah Adam, you late, very late. Missy Dolores, she mad as hornet. Watch that she not sting!"

Adam laughed. "I hope she does sting-I'll sting her back. Now you go tell "Missy" Dolores I'm here and not to keep me waiting or I just might go find me another girl."

"Yes, Mistah Adam," she said, bowing to him, "I go tell now."

Adam shook his head, chuckling to himself. He let himself into the room and put the package he had been holding on the nightstand and sat on the bed and began to take off his boots. He smelled the sweet scent of her gardenia perfume that seemed to infuse the sheets and even the walls. And then she walked in and stopped, facing him, her legs apart, her hands on her hips forcing her silk wrap apart.

Adam appraised her and as usual, she delighted him; everything about her delighted him, from her glossy dark hair to her narrow waist and her strong legs. She was stunning. "You are one good-lookin' woman," he said to her and then made a sound of admiration.

"You are late," she said, resisting his flattery. "You told me that you would be here at eight and it's closer to ten. I have already lost at least two customers waiting for you to show up."

Adam stood up and in his bare feet walked over to her and pulled her to him with a jerk. "No one made you wait for me. Why didn't you go ahead and take them?"

Dolores caught her breath; Adam always had an impact on her-he actually left her breathless as if the wind had been knocked out of her. "Because I needed you, not any of them." She slid her hands up his arms. "Sometimes the money isn't worth it." She expected Adam to kiss her; his mouth was so close that she could feel his breath. But he didn't.

"I brought you a little something," he said, turning away and letting her go. Her arms dropped beside her.

"Oh, now, I wouldn't call it 'little,' " she remarked with a half smile.

Adam laughed loudly and felt himself relax. He wished he could find a respectable woman who could make him laugh as she did, a woman who behaved as she did yet who couldn't be bought by any man who could afford her high price. Well, he would marry a woman like that if he could find her. Smiling, he walked over to the nightstand and picked up the package he brought. "Here," he said. "Come and get it." He kept a small smile on her face. He knew that her curiosity would make her take it from his hand and it did. She walked over and as she reached for it, he held it over her head. "Say, please.'

She looked at him, her eyes starting to express the desire she always felt with him. "Please."

"Please what?" A darkness always seemed to come over him at times like this; a dangerous edge.

"Please give me your gift and I'll give you mine. Whatever you want," she said deep in her throat.

"Ah, now that's my girl." He handed her the slim box and she opened it.

"Oh, Adam, they're beautiful!' She had placed the box on the bed and gingerly held the two silk handkerchiefs that were edged in tatted lace. "They're so beautiful." She unfolded them and rubbed them over her cheeks, enjoying their smoothness.

Adam had begun to undress. "Only the best for you…and for me." He had taken off his shirt and reached for her. "You can use them to clean me up afterwards. But now, put them aside. I want all your attention." And Adam held Dolores in his arms and kissed her and she felt her resolve to be in control fall away; he owned her.

Early the next morning, as Adam sat at breakfast discussing the work for the day with his father and brothers, Sheriff Coffee arrived. Joe went to the door and let him in.

"Roy," Ben said, standing up, "come have some breakfast with us. C'mon, sit down."

"No, no. I've eaten already." The sheriff came over and from the way he looked, Adam knew that Roy was there for him and that it was about something bad. Roy always tapped the fingers of each hand together in front of him when he was upset; it seemed to be his way of holding himself together.

"Well," Adam said, "at least have a cup of coffee." Adam walked over to the sideboard and poured a cup as Roy answered that he supposed that he could do with one cup and sat down at the table.

Adam placed the cup and saucer in front of Roy who proceeded to pour cream in it and then sip. He cleared his throat. "Adam I need you to come into town with me-I got to take a statement from you."

"A statement?" Ben asked. He had no idea why Roy would need a statement from Adam. Of his three sons, Adam would be the last one that Ben would have guessed Roy would be there to see.

But Adam was just curious. "What is it, Roy? What do you need a statement about?" Adam picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.

"Well, this is private in a way, Adam. I think it would be best if we talk outside and I'll tell you there. Then I want you in my office so's that Clem can be a witness."

"A witness to what?" Adam was now becoming annoyed. He had respect for Roy but sometimes Adam thought that Roy behaved like a doddering old fool.

"Okay, Adam," Roy said, his chin up. "I tried to keep it private for you but I'll just tell you here. Dolores, the whor-woman you were with last night was found beaten to death in the alley behind the brothel and you were the last one to be with her, least-ways that's what her maid says and that's what the girls waitin' downstairs said. Now I need a statement from you sayin' what happened."

Adam sat stunned-his ears were filled with a whirring sound. Dolores was found dead, beaten to death. He couldn't accept it. Dolores, beautiful, vital Dolores wasn't alive anymore-gone from existence. He stood up, regained his composure and walked out onto the porch where he hoped the crisp, cold morning air would help him.


	2. Part 2

Part 2

The four men remaining at the table sat in silence. Roy stared down at his cup. The news had a double impact; one, a murder had occurred in Virginia City and two, Adam had been with the murdered woman and now everyone would know about his relationship with her. There weren't that many men who could afford Dolores but they all wished that they could; she was highly desired.

"Roy," Ben said, "you don't think Adam had anything to do with it, do you?"

"I'm just doin' my job, Ben. I have to talk to everyone who had somethin' to do with her and since Adam was with her last night and from what I could gather from the other girls, the only one, I have to ask. I want this nasty business cleaned up quickly and this is the easiest way I know to do it; Adam comes into town and gives a statement and I use it along with all the other statements to find who killed her. 'Course, unless someone walks into my office and confesses, and I don't see that happenin', well, I don't suspect I'll ever find out who done it. Everybody's been very close-lipped." Roy sighed heavily. "Well, I best go get Adam and leave"

"Wait, Roy," Ben said, reaching out and holding Roy's arm. "Give Adam some more time. He'll come in when he's ready to go."

"Well, I could use another cup of coffee. I've been up since three this mornin'." Joe jumped up and quickly refilled Roy's cup. "And is that blueberry jam?" Roy asked.

"Yup," Hoss said, "fresh blueberry jam but watch out, it'll turn your teeth blue."

"After the night I had, that's the least of my problems…I tell you, having to deal with all them sobbin' women in Tessa's house, well, I just about run outta patience. And that old Chinese woman, that Plum Jade, claimed not to speak any English and it took my threatenin' to throw her in my jail to get her to talk and even at that, she didn't have much to say."

Ben shook his head. "I've told Adam over and over, warned him not to consort with women like that but…well." Ben suddenly pictured Dolores in his mind and well understood the allure she had for Adam-for every man. Were he himself younger and had the money, Ben thought that he may very well have taken a turn with her himself. He brought himself out of his reverie quickly and back to the business at hand.

Hoss and Joe looked at one another. They had always chided Adam for spending so much money on just one woman when with what Dolores charged for one night, four women could be bought-maybe even five at another cat house. But Adam would just give his sly smile and say that Dolores was well-worth every penny and that even if she charged double what she did, he'd pay it because although people said that money couldn't buy happiness, it could buy excruciating pleasure. And because talking about Dolores disturbed both Hoss and Joe, the subject would then be dropped.

"You ain't got no idea who it was who done killed her?" Hoss asked as Roy spread blueberry jam on a split biscuit.

"So far, no." Roy concentrated on what he was doing. Then looked up and before he took a bite, said, "But I couldn't tell you what information I have anyway, despite how little it is. I got to do this investigation right because I don't want Miss Tessa to accuse me of not doing my job just because the victim was a…was a 'working girl.' Everybody deserves justice, no matter who they were or what they did and so I'm going exactly by the book-no one is going to accuse me of not doing enough." Roy took another bite of the biscuit, chewed and then swallowed while the three Cartwrights watched and waited for the next thing he was going to say. "What'll probably happen is that some of those upstanding citizens of Virginia City and their wives will probably accuse me of doing too much-that I shouldn't overly investigate. I got the feeling that too many of our best citizens may have visited Miss Dolores upon occasion and don't want anyone else to know. But I gotta do what I gotta do-my job."

"Yes, Roy, I suppose that's right but if there's any way you could keep Adam out of it…"

Roy stood up and picked his hat up off the table where he had put it before he sat down. "I'd like to, Ben, but Adam's in it up to his knees. There's no way to leave him out. Wish I could. Now he and I gotta get to town. Boys?" Roy motioned goodbye with his hat and then put it on.

"Bye, Roy," Hoss said, giving him a small two-fingered wave.

"See ya'," Joe said, nodding at Roy.

"I'll walk you to the porch." Ben said, pushing himself up from the table. He realized how weary he suddenly felt." Adam will have to get his things before he goes with you." And so Ben and Roy left the table and Joe and Hoss looked at one another again.

"I knew it," Hoss said, his lips pursed. "I knew that Adam was goin' to get in some sort of trouble with that woman. She was just too dang much."

"C'mon, Hoss. You have to admit that she was beautiful-just absolutely beautiful and there was that something..."

"Beautiful, maybe but a woman like her, a woman who'll do those things with a man that she did, don't it kinda make you feel dirty just thinkin' about it?"

"Hey," Joe said, grinning, "you can always take a bath." He grinned at Hoss and Hoss broke out in guffaws but quickly stopped himself.

"I guess we shouldn't be talkin' that way 'bout someone who's dead. Kinda sacrilegious, you know." Hoss said, tracing the weave on the tablecloth with one finger.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Joe said. "Should we say something to Adam, like we're sorry about what happened to her?"

Hoss looked at Joe and sighed. "Let's just wait and see if the opportunity comes-you know? Sometimes the time is just right so let's abide and see what happens. You say the wrong thing to Adam at the wrong time and you'll be lucky to keep the skin on your back."

"Yeah," Joe said, "I guess you're right." The two men sat and slowly finished their breakfast in silence, each lost in their own thoughts and each remembering the last time they had seen Dolores on the street or through a window and then each of them felt a aching longing and a certain sadness that such beauty no longer existed.

Joe remembered the last time he had seen Dolores. He was in front of the feed store, loading the wagon and she had walked by and turned and caught Joe's eye. He practically dropped the sack of feed when she smiled at him and then she laughed and Joe's knees went weak and he had to put the sack on the ground. Joe knew that Dolores had probably only smiled at him because he was Adam's brother, laughed because he was awkward and clumsy, but there was just something in her eyes, something that let Joe know that she knew his secret desires, she knew what he really wanted from a woman and that made Joe heat up. And then she went on and Joe watched her skirts swish down the wooden walk in front of the stores.

Hoss stared at the plate in front of him but for once, he wasn't thinking about food; he was thinking about Dolores. He always secretly wanted to spend at least one night with her, one night out of his life with her, with the woman who promised so much in a sidelong glance. But Hoss hadn't yet worked up the courage to see her or to deal with Adam afterward. And now his chance was lost. Dolores was dead. And he grieved.

TBC


	3. Part 3

Part 3

"Where is she?" Adam asked as he and Roy rode into town.

"You mean Dolores? Her body?" Roy was taken by surprise; Adam hadn't said anything on the ride in. Roy hadn't expected Adam to ask that.

"Yes," Adam said tuning to him. "Where is she?"

"Probably still at Doc's. He was getting' ready to examine the body when I left so it's probably still there."

"I want to see her." Without waiting for Roy's approval, Adam turned his horse and rode to Dr. Martin's office. Roy followed; he wasn't going to let Adam out of his sight. He didn't like having to list Adam as a suspect but Adam was the last man known to have been with her. It was possible, although Roy had to admit that it didn't make much sense, that Adam met Dolores in the alley behind the house, had an argument and killed her. Possible, but to Roy, not probable. Nevertheless, he needed to prevent anyone from accusing him of coddling the Cartwrights.

Adam took a deep breath before he entered Paul Martin's office. Adam felt like one of those automatons he had seen at the fair in San Francisco one year-going about activities without a conscious effort as if being controlled by someone else, doing someone else's bidding. He hadn't even considered viewing Dolores' body until he hit the outskirts of Virginia City. But now, as he stood upon the threshold, he realized that he had to do what came next and that was seeing her.

Adam noted how tired Paul looked, the dark circles under his eyes and the sagging of his shoulders. And as soon as Paul saw Adam followed by the sheriff, he knew what Adam wanted.

"She's back here," Paul said, motioning with his hand. Adam followed Paul to the back room and Paul, his hand pausing for a moment over the knob, looked at Adam again. "Are you sure?" Paul asked. Adam nodded and Paul opened the door and Adam walked in. He saw a table that obviously had a body on it, a woman's body covered by a sheet. Roy and Paul stood behind Adam. The room was lit by a lamp hanging from the ceiling and centered over the body throwing odd shadows; there were no windows.

"Shall I?" Paul asked gently, holding the top hem of the sheet.

"Yes," Adam said. He had trouble getting out the word. Nothing to him seemed real. Paul walked to the other side of the table and pulled the sheet down from over the face and neck of the body and Adam stepped closer and looked. The odor of gardenias rose to meet him. But to Adam, it wasn't right, it wasn't Dolores. It couldn't be. Her smooth skin had a light bluish tinge and she had dark bruises on the swollen cheeks; her lips were a deep bluish-purple. There was a purplish mark on her neck, marks that resembled a rope, as if she had been strangled with a thick cord, a noose. But to Adam, it wasn't right. Dolores couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. This had to be some joke. She could never lie so still, not Dolores. Life and energy constantly surged through her. Adam knew that even in her sleep, she was restless and never could stay asleep the whole night through. Adam suspected that some personal demon kept her from her rest but he had never asked and she never told him what it was.

Adam reached down and stroked her hair-that was the only real thing as far as Adam was concerned; the hair was Dolores' hair, glossy, smooth and wavy. "She was strangled?" Adam asked, looking at the mark.

'Yes," Paul said. "Whoever killed her beat her first and then strangled her; whoever it was wanted her dead." Adam nodded slightly in agreement.

"Did you find a rope, Roy?" Adam asked, running the strands of her dark hair, almost as black as a crow's back, between his fingers.

"No, I didn't find a rope," Roy said. Then Roy became upset with himself for not looking for one. But, he thought, all those damned half-dressed women crying and carrying on so and with me being dragged out of my bed in the early hours, well, my mind just wasn't as sharp as it usually is. Roy decided that he'd go back later and look around.

"You won't find a rope," Adam said. Roy and Paul looked at one another, puzzled.

"What do you mean Adam?" Roy suddenly feared that Adam was going to confess; his heart started pounding as his mind ran forward thinking about what he was going to have to do if Adam confessed.

"She was strangled with her own hair." Adam stood and looked down at the body.

"Now, how do you know that?" Roy asked.

"I just do. You won't find a rope."

Roy sighed deeply. "I swear, Adam," Roy said. "C'mon. We need to get this business over. The sooner we do, the sooner you can go home and I can talk to other people-and search for a rope."

Adam turned to look at Roy and nodded. Then he turned to Paul. "May I have a lock of hair?"

Paul was surprised and looked to Roy who nodded so Paul picked up a small pair of scissors and clipped a lock of hair. Then he opened a drawer and pulled out some surgical thread and as deftly as when he took a stitch through someone's skin, he tied the ends of the thread together and handed it to Adam. Adam took it and ran it through his fingers and then put it in the inside pocket of his jacket. Paul pulled the sheet back up over the body.

"Thank you, Paul," Adam said and he and Roy started to leave. Then he stopped. "Paul, who is paying to have her buried?"

"You'll have to ask Frank about that…or Miss Tessa. All I know is that Frank's coming to take the body back to his shop this morning and prepare it for burial. Trust me, Frank will know exactly who's paying for it."

If it hadn't been such a serious occasion, Adam would have laughed; everyone knew that Frank, the undertaker in Virginia City, never helped bury anyone without being paid up front. "You can't collect from the dead," he always said, "and I can't repossess the body."

Adam and Roy went over to his office where Adam gave a statement to Roy and Clem noted the important things, that Adam arrived a bit before ten and left a little before midnight and that, no, no one at the Ponderosa could verify what time he arrived home; everyone had been asleep. Adam stated that he did not see anyone lurking about Miss Tessa's place but then he left by the front door, not the back door as most of her "patrons" did so someone could have been there in the alley and he wouldn't know anything about it. And, yes, Adam declared, Dolores was alive when he left her. Very much alive. To his memory, Dolores hadn't mentioned any problem to him-they never really had a conversation, not using their mouths much for talking, Adam said, with a look of disdain at Roy. At that Roy flushed and Clem cleared his throat.

But as Adam talked, he found himself thinking that Dolores had appeared slightly anxious toward the end of his visit. And although they had enjoyed each other, Dolores had seemed relieved when he said that he had to go, that it was getting too late and that he had a long ride. She had laughed and asked if he wasn't too sore to be in the saddle for another hour and Adam had playfully pinched her as she jumped and cried, ouch! But there had been something, now that he thought about it, a certain sadness. At the time, he had flattered himself that it was because she would miss him-that she knew that she wouldn't see him again in maybe over a week, but now it seemed to him that she had been sad over something else. But Adam didn't mention it to Roy.

"Thanks, Adam, for the statement."

"Am I a suspect, Roy?" Adam stood up and put his hat back on.

"Well, let's just say that I ain't completely ruled you out yet. But don't go troopin' off to San Francisco or anyplace else for a while."

Adam smiled but before he left, he turned. "I'm going to stay in town for an hour or so. I'll be at the Empire Hotel."

Roy looked surprised; he hadn't expected such cooperation from Adam. Then he became suspicious. "Now, don't you go playing detective, Adam." Roy wagged his finger at Adam as if Adam were a naughty child. "You leave this investigation to me, understand?"

"Sure, Roy, I understand. I just thought that it would be easier for you if I stuck around." Adam smiled and walked out, closing the door behind him.

Roy turned to Clem and gave a sound of frustration. "Now, Clem, what do you think about that?"

Clem shook his head and laughed. "I don't think anything. I don't think anything at all."

TBC


	4. Part 4

Part 4

After securing a room at the hotel, Adam walked over to Miss Tessa's; it was barely nine in the morning but Adam felt as if he had been up for hours. He knocked on the front door but no one answered so he tried the door and it was open. He walked in and the house was quiet; the only person moving around was the swamper, an old man who came in early in the morning to mop up the tobacco splatters off the floor from those who missed the cuspidor while sitting and waiting to be taken upstairs. They were intentionally kept waiting in the hopes that their nervousness or eagerness would cause them to buy some overpriced alcohol. But Adam never had to wait; he just always came in the front door, exchanged pleasantries with Tessa and then went upstairs to Dolores. He was sure that the unknown men who came in the back never had to wait either and for the first time, Adam felt a twinge of jealousy.

Adam knew that he wasn't the only man who paid dearly for Dolores' favors and tricks-and he knew that many men paid more than he but then, they may have preferred cruel or perverse treatment. Dolores had once told Adam that she made them pay and pay and then pay some more for their pleasures and that she led the men around by something far more sensitive than their noses. She had laughed and Adam had just listened. But up until today, it had never bothered him.

"Hey, Dooley," Adam said. "Is Miss Tessa awake? I'd like to talk to her."

"No, Mr. Adam. She went up about an hour ago and with all the nasty doin's goin' on around here last night, the murder and all, well, they's all probably asleep."

"All the doin's, huh?" Adam prodded Dooley a little. He knew that someone like Dooley, an old man who had spent most of his life looking up from the inside of a bottle, craved attention, craved to seem important. "You see any of it?"

"I sure did, let me tell you," Dooley said, stopping his mopping. "I always come in the back door, you know, to do my moppin' up and I come in this mornin' and there she was, Miss Dolores. She was just layin' there, all crumpled up in a beautiful silk wrap that had all types of flowers on it. Real pretty, it was. I couldn't believe it was Miss Dolores-I thought that she was maybe asleep or had fell or somethin' but when I turned her over, well, her eyes was open but she waren't lookin' at anything and then I just jumped back 'cause I knew she was dead. Funny though, she smelled like flowers. But that Miss Dolores, she was a flower herself. I ain't never seen no woman as pretty as her. No, it weren't that she was so pretty, you know. It was more like, well, when she done looked at you, it was like she knew that you was a man through and through, no matter how old you were or ugly or nothin' like that, and that she knew what you wanted to do with her even though you knew you couldn't, wouldn't never get the chance. I tell you, as old and worthless as I am, she made me lick my lips at the thought of her."

Adam wanted to tell Dooley to shut up, to ask him who he thought he was to look at Miss Dolores that way but he held himself back, mainly because he knew that Dooley was right. Dolores knew that she disturbed all men, every man who looked at her and many a time Dolores had shared what she thought was a joke with Adam, telling him that some old, broken down homesteader had become all flustered and excited when she smiled at him; she thought it was funny to see them react and sweat. But Adam knew that when she had first looked at him, had he not been able to be with her, not been able to have her and indulge all his secret desires and needs with her, well, he wouldn't have thought that was a joke; it might very well have driven him mad. Maybe she drove some man mad enough that he waited to kill her, Adam thought. And then he had a sudden insight. Whoever killed her hadn't come to do so. That was why he had killed her by wrapping her long, fluid locks around her neck and strangling her with her own hair. Adam was sure of that, that it was her own hair instead of a rope; the few, long broken strands that still lay on her neck and collarbone when he had seen her had convinced him and then, there was what he had once said to her. He had once teased Dolores by wrapping her hair around her neck and whispering in her ear how easily he could snap her neck just by pulling the locks in one quick movement of his wrist. She had looked up at him and Adam saw actual fear in her eyes. He had quickly released her hair and calmed her by stroking her face and murmuring about his desire for her and she had melted back into his arms. But he remembered it now as if it had happened just last night-and he felt the heat rise in his face when he realized that at his core, he could have been the one to have killed her-it might just have depended on the circumstances. The realization shook him.

"That's it?" Adam said to Dooley who had taken up his mop again. "Is that all you know?"

Dooley stopped mopping and leaned on his mop, his hands crossed on top of the stick. thinking. "Yeah, that's about it 'cept that Miss Tessa sent all the men who were still here out the front and some of them waren't any too happy 'bout it. And there was one cowboy-stank like a cow himself-he wanted his money back 'cause he claimed that he didn't get all that he was payin' for so Miss Tessa just told him that he didn't have to pay if he'd just get the hell out. In all the years I been swampin' here, I ain't never seen Miss Tessa let any man out without payin' for somethin'. That just goes to show how upset she was. Miss Dolores, well, I heard-I hear a lot when I'm eatin' my breakfast here-Miss Tessa, she gives me breakfast…" Adam sighed; he was losing patience and wanted to jerk Dooley up by his shirt front and shake him the way a dog worries a rabbit once he catches it, but held off.

"Well, anyway," Dooley continued, "Miss Dolores was her favorite girl here. I heard that she let Miss Dolores do all sorts of things that the other girls couldn't like have only one man a night. But that's 'cause of her price. She cost a lot-an awful lot." Dooley sighed and went back to his mopping.

"Is Plum Jade here?" Adam asked.

"I don't know 'bout that but that old Chinese woman, she broke down when they done brought in Miss Dolores, started cryin' and moanin' in that Chinese of hers and sat on the sofa holding Miss Dolores' head. She was the one that closed the eyes. Sheriff Coffee, well he done had to pull that old lady away."

"If I leave a note," Adam said, "will you give it to Miss Tessa?"

"Sure, if she's awake afore I leave. If she's not, well, I'll leave it where she's sure to find it; I'll slip it under her door although I'm not s'posed to go upstairs-might meet some man comin' down them stairs." Dooley smiled at Adam.

"Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be good," Adam said. "Thanks." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver dollar and handed it to Dooley. "Here," Adam said, "for your time." And he turned and went out the back door for the first time ever.

TBC


	5. Part 5

Part 5

Adam stood in the alley, looking around. There was trash strewn as well as the scent of urine from dumped chamber pots; he turned over the matter in the alley with the toe of his boot, loath to touch anything. It sickened him to think that Dolores had lain there in the cold all alone and then he had an uncontrollable shiver when he knew that the last emotion she experienced had been fear. Since he had once seen it himself in her eyes, he knew what the killer had seen, her eyes large and her hands had probably grasped his wrists, trying to pull his hands away, struggling to breathe, to free herself. Had she struggled much or had she resigned herself to death the same way she had resigned herself to her life here? He wondered.

Adam had spoken to her once about quitting and starting anew somewhere else. He had told her that she was so lovely that she could easily find a wealthy husband and Dolores had asked him if he was volunteering. Adam had just laughed, never answering her and then he had changed the subject. He knew that he would never marry her-never could. Had he married her, and even if they had gone somewhere else, he would always wonder about every man who would tip his hat to Dolores, would smile and say good morning-had that man been with her at sometime? Adam knew that he couldn't live a life like that, always wondering. Then his reverie was interrupted by a voice behind him.

"So you just couldn't stay away. I knew it."

Adam turned and saw Roy Coffee standing there. "Come looking for me, Roy?'

"Well, I do know you, Adam, and I figured that you would come out here. Damn it, Adam, I told you not to play detective. If you'd only let me…"

"I talked to Dooley, the swamper, that's all." Adam stood, his fists shoved down in his pocket; it was cold, colder than it had been in a long time and he wished that he had had the presence of mind to pick up his gloves and maybe a scarf when he had left home that morning.

"Did you learn anything special?" Roy asked a bit sarcastically. "Anything that you would like to share that might help me do my job a little faster and make it a little easier?"

"No," Adam said. "I learned nothing except that Dolores made even old Dooley feel like a man-no earth-shattering news. But I didn't learn anything that could help but I did learn a few things that I could have lived my whole life without hearing from Dooley."

"Well," Roy said, moving closer to Adam and pulling up the collar of his jacket, "I 'spect that it won't do any good to tell you to mind to your own business, to stay out of mine, but there's one thing I wish you'd do. If you learn anything, hear anything important, that you'll let me know. I don't want to be investigating how you got shot in the back by some unknown person who just wanted to shut you up. Understand?"

Adam bowed slightly in mock deference. "Yes, Roy." Adam started to leave the alley, passing Roy, but then stopped. "But, Roy, if you hear anything, I'd like to know as well."

"Maybe," Roy said. "Oh, but one thing I do have to thank you for, you're probably right about the rope-about there not bein' one, I mean. I came back here right after you left my office and there was nothin' here, no rope, nothin' that could even be used as a rope. I was thinking about her sash from her wrap even though it was holding her robe closed when I saw her. But then I thought maybe one of the girls had found it and put it back on her, but then Dooley, he swears that it was always there, that her wrap was still mostly closed when he found her and I don't think someone would strangle her and then bother to make sure she was presentable by putting her sash back on. So I went over to Doc's, Frank had just arrived to take possession of the body, and we looked again and saw some of her hair, a few strands, still wrapped there around her neck. I don't know what it means, why someone would do it, but I think that was it, that you're right."

"Can't you see, Roy? Whoever killed her, well, that wasn't their intent. They didn't come to kill her but something she said or did, well, it must have set them off. I can well understand how Dolores could make a man lose his senses-lose who he is and forget all his decency. I don't think she knew how her eyes always held the promise of paradise-and how it could make a man completely mad-totally insane at times." Then Adam walked away and Roy stood watching him leave.

Roy shook his head and he wondered if Adam had loved Dolores. And then Roy thought back to his wife Mary and he began to remember how much he loved his wife and how it felt to kiss her and hold her. Then he gave himself a slight shake. My, God, he thought, I am turning into a doddering, old man, always thinking about the past. And then Roy turned and left too.

Adam decided that Miss Tessa wouldn't be awake for at least two more hours-hopefully she would be up then, so he decided to have an early lunch-he hadn't finished his breakfast-so he went into "The Food Bucket," a small little restaurant. Adam hung up his hat and trail coat near the door and sat down away from the door so that no cold air would hit him if someone else came in. At the moment, there was only him and two other patrons.

Ben stomped along the wooden walkway, heading to the Sheriff's office; he wanted to be apprised of the situation. Did Roy suspect Adam? What exactly had happened? But he glanced through the window of The Food Bucket and then backed up and looked again; there was Adam, reading a copy of The Territorial Enterprise over a plate of ham and eggs and drinking coffee. With a huff of agitation, Ben entered The Food Bucket, walked straight to Adam's table without even removing his hat or coat and sat down heavily.

"Oh," Adam said, putting down his paper, "Hey, Pa. Coffee?"

No, I don't want coffee. I want to know what the hell you're still doing here in Virginia City while your brothers are working their weary asses off and you're just sitting her, sipping on coffee and reading the paper. Were you hoping to read your name as a suspect? Checking if they spelled it right?" Ben's voice had become louder at the end emphasizing his frustration. He looked around, embarrassed and was glad there weren't many people but those few who were there, raised their brows.

"What's the matter with you?" Adam asked as if he was offended.

"I just told you!" Ben started to slam his fist for emphasis but stopped himself.

Adam sighed and then told his father that he felt that he should stay in town awhile, that maybe he could find out something about the murder that Roy couldn't. And as usual, when Adam began to explain things to his father in a cool, calm, reasonable manner, Ben's ruffled feathers smoothed and he ended up agreeing to send Hop Sing out tomorrow morning, early, with the carpet bag packed with enough clothing to last Adam for at least a week.

"But why Hop Sing?" Ben asked. "why not Hoss or Joe?"

"Because I may need Hop Sing to act as my….ambassador to Chinatown. I don't think that I'll get anywhere on my own."

Ben nodded and acquiesced to having a cup of coffee and Adam told his father about the morning and all that he had learned. And as he talked to his father, Adam was surprised to have his voice catch in his throat; just as when he was a small boy and was upset. Talking to his father and looking into his sympathetic deep brown eyes, made Adam want to break down, to hand his problems over to his father and to once more rest his head on his father's massive chest. But he couldn't nor would he reveal everything to his father; this wasn't the time.

After Ben left, insisting on paying the tab, Adam walked over to Miss Tessa's. One of the girls, Selena, let him in when she found that it was Adam; she hoped that he wanted to find consolation in another woman's arms and Selena was willing to lie down with him. But she was disappointed when he said that he wanted to talk to Tessa and asked if she was up. Selena closed her wrapper; it was chilly and he wasn't interested so there was no need for her to look desirable, and led Adam to the small kitchen where Tessa sat, drinking coffee that Adam could see by the whiskey bottle next to it on the table, was laced with something more potent than cream. Tessa smoked a narrow, pungent cigar, her robe loosely covering her full figure. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

"Morning, Tessa. Did you get my note?" She hadn't asked him sit down so he didn't take liberties with her questionable hospitality.

"Yeah, I got your note." She looked up at him. Despite all that had happened, she still admired a good-looking man when she saw one. She also considered what she would have done with Adam had she been younger. She would have been able to show him a better time, she was sure than Dolores ever had. But then, Dolores took advantage of the hidden desires and fears of men and Tessa wondered what secret Adam had, what hold Dolores had over him. After all, he had written that he hoped to look through Dolores' things, to examine her room.

"You're welcome to go up there and look around, handsome, but I got to tell you, you won't find nothin'. I already went through everything and the only thing I found was the wooden box where she kept her money and jewelry. That's it, but you're welcome to look again."

Adam thanked her and turned to go up the back stairway, the stairs the men used who entered by the back door.

"Hey, Cartwright," Tessa called out. Adam stopped, one hand on the balustrade, and looked at her. "You thinkin' she's got some secret book somewhere with all her clients names written and what they like and you want to rip out your page? 'Cause if you do, you're wrong."

"I just want to look, that's all."

Tessa just shrugged and Adam continued up the stairs.

TBC


	6. Part 6

Part 6

Adam opened the room to Dolores' room and the scent of gardenia wafted toward him. The room was just as it had been last night, only colder. The bed was still unmade from where they had laid, the impression of their bodies still easily seen, the drapes still pulled, the towels still damp and hanging over the rack, one over the other. Adam stood inside the doorway, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. It was as if she would still be there and he almost expected to see her luxuriating in her bed, smiling at him when he opened his eyes-but she wasn't.

He walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer first. He saw that her usually neatly-folded lingerie had been ruffled; obviously Tessa told him the truth-she had already been there and run her hands under the clothing. Adam opened all the drawers and found nothing else but the silky underthings that she wore. He held one garter in his hand, looked at it and raised it to his nose; it smelled like her and made his head spin. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pang of loss shoot through him. It was as if he could see her standing there before him, waiting for him, wanting him-and he would never see her again.

Adam then walked over to her wardrobe, moved the dresses and cloaks around as they hung up, checking to see if any of them had pockets. He checked the top shelf where boxes of hats sat, took each one down and looked through them but still, he found nothing. He looked at the boots and shoes lined up at the bottom. He turned each one upside down and shook them; he would have run his hand inside to feel if something was stuck up in the toes but he remembered that Dolores had once said that she had a very important client who paid fifty dollars for the chance to relieve his tension with one of her shoes.

After searching everywhere that he could think, Adam sat on the edge of the bed. He tried not to think about last night and the pleasure he had found in Dolores' arms; life could be extinguished so quickly that he didn't want to consider how vulnerable he and everyone he loved was-it was too frightening. He sat and thought about anywhere else that Dolores might have hidden something, a book, some paper-something, when Li-Li peeked around the corner of the door.

"Yes?" Adam asked, seeing her small face.

Li-Li came and stood inside the room, but not too far in. Adam Cartwright had always been a source of interest to her but he had never requested her. He barely ever noticed her but she was in awe of the dark-haired man with the deep, warm voice. She expected that he could give her pleasure with his voice alone the way it vibrated through her small being.

Adam waited for her to speak. She was a tiny Chinese woman who looked years younger than her actual age. Dolores had once said that some men liked Chinese women and that Li-Li was talked up as being the one to "unlock all the Oriental gifts of love." Hoss once asked Adam about it, what Oriental pleasure she could "unlock." Adam had laughed and said that according to what he knew, the only thing she could unlock were her ankles and that after that, it was all the same and for Hoss not to waste his money. Hoss had guffawed and said that he had no intention, he was just curious, that was all. So Adam sat and waited for what Li-Li wanted.

"You want know about Dororous." Li-Li couldn't quite pronounce Dolores' name but Adam kept himself from smiling at her awkwardness.

"Yes, I do want to know about Dolorous. Is there anything you can tell me?"

Li-Li looked behind her, craned her neck to look down the hall and then quietly closed the door behind her, pressing the door to with slight pressure so that it wouldn't click. Then she moved closer to Adam. "I see you leave last night. Then, few minutes, Miss Dorores, she leave. It cold, I say to her, cold outside. She just wear robe-clothes still in room. I tell her but she say she not be long and then she go down back stair. I go to room because cowboy coming up to me; he pay good."

"How did she seem? Was she upset? Had she said anything to you?" Adam stood up and Li-Li stepped back. He was so tall and imposing that he intimidated her by his mere presence but he also sent a thrill of excitement through her.

"She…she seem…I don't know word. She not be able to sit only one place. I ask who she wait for and she say you but you late. I ask her why she worry so much-you be here soon but she say that she need you leave at certain time and she move hands like this." Li-Li wrung her hands over and over and Adam thought of a version of Macbeth he had once seen; Lady Macbeth had made the same movements as she washed the imagined blood off her hands while she walked in her disturbed sleep.

"So she seemed anxious, worried." Adam suggested the words.

"Yes," Li-Li said, "she anxious. That the word-anxious."

"Li-Li, was there any man she was afraid of? Had she said anything about a certain man, someone she didn't want to see anymore?"

"No, she not say but I not know all the men. They not have to come all way up here since her room first by the stair. They sneak in like rats in the alley. I not like that type man. Secrets, they all have secrets-even you, Mr. Cartwright, you have secret?"

"Every man has secrets," Adam said, "and usually they have a wife to share their 'secret," with but not me. So I came to her." His voice quavered slightly. There was silence for a few seconds and then Adam asked Li-Li if she would look under the bed, to see if Dolores had anything under there.

Li-Li agreed and she got down on her hands and knees and then onto her belly and crawled underneath. Adam waited.

L-Li scooted out. She turned over on her back and at first Adam was confused; he didn't know what Li-Li wanted.

"Under bed. Stuck in slat." Li-Li, using her heels, scooted back under the bed and then pushed herself back out holding a small book in her hand. "Here," she said, handing it to Adam.

"Thank you, Li-Li. Thank you very much." Li-Li stood while Adam opened the book and flipped through-it was written in Chinese except for the numbers-it appeared to be a ledger of sorts. "Li-Li, will you read this to me?" Adam held the book out to her.

"Li-Li not read, no Chinese, no English. Li-Li simple fool." She shrugged her shoulders and readjusted her sparse clothing.

"Well," Adam said, tucking the small book in his jacket pocket. He reached into his pants' pocket and took out two silver dollars. He held them up and Li-Li eyed them covetously. "These are yours, Li-Li, if you don't say anything to Miss Tessa."

Li-Li opened her palm and held it out. "Li-Li not say anything. Li-Li be…" and she held one finger in front of her mouth and made a shushing sound.

"Good," Adam said. Li-Li smiled and closed her palm around the two silver dollars Adam placed there. She smiled to herself; this was the easiest two dollars she had ever made and she barely had to do anything, but she smiled to herself, it had still required her to be on her back.

Adam took the book to his hotel; he knew he'd have to wait until tomorrow, until Hop Sing arrived to find out what was written. He couldn't trust anyone else. Then, Adam thought that he would have Hop Sing take him to Chinatown; he wanted to talk to Plum Jade. After having been with Dolores for so long, she must have become Dolores' confidante, must know who all her clients were. After all, Adam thought, many a time Plum Jade had walked into Dolores' room at what Adam thought were awkward times but Plum Jade never seemed to notice anything, just brought clean water, more towels or some tea and then left; Dolores never drank alcohol, only tea.

Adam lay on the bed after pulling off his boots. He crossed one arm under his head and thought about today and last night and slowly and unbidden, tears for Dolores and for his great loss, escape from his closed eyes. "Don't," he told himself, "don't fall apart now. Later, later you can." But the tears still came until eventually, he fell asleep.

Adam jerked awake, The room was almost dark. He was confused, first as to where he was and then if it was morning or night. Adam pulled out his pocket watch and saw that it was almost seven. He sat for a few more seconds and then, looking out the window, realized that it must be evening. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of his drowsiness. He lit the lamp and splashed water on his face.

He decided to go downstairs and eat but first he tucked Dolores' ledger under his mattress, locked the door and went down to the well-lighted dining room and ordered himself a dinner. And as he was eating, Tucker Jones, the owner of the haberdashery came over and stood until Adam noticed him.

"Tucker," Adam said, looking up to see whose shadow fell over his table, "sit down. Have some coffee?" Adam began to motion to the waiter.

"No, no, Adam. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute." Tucker sat down and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face. He was a large man and it didn't take much to make him sweat but Adam thought that the dining room actually seemed a bit cool; Tucker was sweating about something else.

"What d'you need, Tucker? You selling your men's clothing with the personal touch now?"

"Adam, Roy Coffee came to see me today."

Adam looked at the fear in Tucker's eyes and he knew what it was about and his heart sank; it was about Dolores.

"That was some dirty business, you know about…the murder and all."

"Is that what Roy talked to you about?' Adam placed his fork on the edge of his plate.

"Yes. Adam, I didn't have anything to do with it. I swear. I saw Dolores a few times and I know you did too. But I…I can't have anyone know. I never did anything with Dolores, I mean anything that…, well, I just talked to her and she well, she helped me, you know, the way you talk to a friend and they help you, like I'm talking to you."

Adam grinned and gave a small chuckle. "Like talking to me, huh?"

"Well, not quite." Tucker was nervous and Adam's loathing of him grew. "Adam," Tucker said, "I was wondering if, well, if you would help me."

"How can I possibly help you?" Adam stared at him.

"All I want is one of her, well, one of her shoes. Do you think you could help me?"

"Oh, hell," Adam said, with a inward groan. At least, Adam thought, it wasn't Tucker; if he had killed Dolores' for a mere shoe, he wouldn't be sitting here asking for Adam to help him pilfer one. Besides, Adam thought, Tucker couldn't rouse the passion for murder.

"Tucker," Adam said, "I might be able to help you but let me ask you one thing-did Dolores ever mention any trouble she was in, say anything about anyone she was afraid of?"

"Oh, no," Tucker said. "Dolores never talked to me about anything except, well, she'd talk me through my…problem. Now, can you help me?"

"Yes," Adam said. "Go see Miss Tessa and offer to buy one of Dolores' shoes. Let her set the price. I'm sure she'll let you pick your favorite one." Adam knew that Miss Tessa would sell anything or anyone for thirty pieces of silver.

Tucker stood up, smiling. "Thank you, Adam I've been so upset by it all that I didn't even think of that. Of course." Tucker reached out his hand and Adam shook it but after Tucker turned and made his way to the door, Adam wiped his hand with the napkin. It was a dirty business and Adam began to regret getting involved.

TBC


	7. Part 7

Part 7

Adam sat a few more minutes and thought about telling Roy about the ledger and handing it over. Then it would be Roy's problem, not his and he could just walk away. Me and Pontius Pilate, Adam thought, washing our hands of the whole thing. He stood up and put money on the table and decided to go find Roy. He didn't have far to look—Roy was walking on the sidewalk toward the hotel.

"Adam," Roy said, his jacket collar turned up around his ears against the cold, "I was coming to see you."

"Oh," Adam said. "Want to go to your office?"

"No, I think we can talk in the lobby. Let's get out of this wind."

The two men walked into the lobby of the hotel and stood off from the front desk where people might come for a room and for service.

"Think it's going to snow?" Adam asked, starting the conversation.

"Might, just might." Roy answered. "It's certainly tending to look that way." The two men looked at one another and then Roy said, "I talked to Tucker Jones today...among a few others"

"Yeah, Tucker just came in to see me about it. Seems you made him nervous. You think he did it?".

"Tucker?" Ray said smiling. "Hell, Adam, while I was asking him questions, I thought he was goin' to piss his pants."

Adam chuckled. "Yeah. I don't think that he has anything to do with it either-lacks the killer instinct.'

'Yeah," Roy agreed. "No testicles." The two men laughed at Tucker's expense.

"How'd you find out about him?" Adam considered what Roy knew that he, himself, didn't know. Had Roy found another book that he missed, a list of clients perhaps?

"Well, Roy said, steepling his fingers, "I went by this afternoon after the girls at Miss Tessa's were all awake and talked to them. Oh, and Adam, Tessa told me you were there and went up to Dolores' room. Did you find anything that I should know about?"

Adam thought quickly about whether or not to tell Roy about the ledger. "No. Tessa had gone through the room already. She said that she just found a box of money and jewelry."

Roy nodded. "That's what Tessa told me too. Well, one of the girls told me about how she'd seen Tucker up there a few times and they gave me a few more names of people they'd seen upon occasion." Roy waited. He knew that Adam wouldn't be able to resist asking.

"Okay, Roy," Adam said. "Are you going to tell me or are you just jerking my rope?"

Roy, smiled and looked down. "Nope, Adam, I'm not going to tell you 'cause if I do, well, I know that you'll pay a little visit to them before I can get there."

"Did you ever think that they might be more inclined to talk to me than you?"

"Why? Because you both drank from the same cup?" Roy held his chin up, waiting for Adam to respond. But Adam just glared at him.

"Good night, Roy," Adam said and left Roy standing there. And as Adam walked up the stairs to his room, he was glad that he hadn't told Roy about the ledger. And Roy watched him walk up the stairs and shook his head. He wished Adam would go back home and just leave things up to him. And for the first time, a shadow of suspicion blackened Adam in his mind. Just why was Adam so interested? Was it to clear his name from the smudge of consorting with Dolores, or was he really looking for the killer? Had Adam gone back to see Dolores that night and he wanted to find out if someone had seen him there after he supposedly left? Roy didn't know but he was tired and cold and wanted to go home to bed but first he had to make all his rounds. So he adjusted his collar again and went out into the evening air.

Adam hadn't been sleeping long when someone knocked impatiently on the door. He woke up, pulled on his trousers and went to the door.

"Clem, what the hell are you doing here this time of night?"

"Someone shot Roy." Clem looked harried. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," Adam said stepping aside. "Hold the door open until I can light this," Adam said, striking a match and lighting the lamp by the bed. "Okay."

Clem shut the door and Adam sat on the bed. "Is Roy all right?"

"No, he's not. Someone shot him in the back just as he was finishing his rounds and Doc Martin's spent the last hour or so getting the bullet out. Doc is going to keep an eye on him, keeping him there in his clinic for the rest of the night and maybe even tomorrow. Roy's come to but he's in a bad way-just said he was shot-like we couldn't tell."

"Well, I'm glad you told me but why in the middle of the night?"

"You were the last person to be seen with him."

"Oh, hell, Clem. Now you're going to tell me that you think that I shot Roy. That I followed him out and shot him in the damn back because he was on to me for killing Dolores-had all the evidence! Anyone else's shooting you want to pin on me while you're here? Feel free."

"No, Adam," Clem said, "I just want to ask you if he said anything to you about anyone who he talked to, if they threatened him or if they were mad."

"No," Adam said, annoyed, "he didn't say anything to me about that-wouldn't tell me a thing."

"Well, did you see anyone follow him out?"

"No. I went upstairs before he left."

"Well, if you think of anything, let me know, would you, Adam?"

Adam looked up at Clem. "I'll let you know." Then Adam slowly shook his head. "Pa'll be upset. You know how close he and Roy are. I hate to think of Pa when he gets the news. He just…it's a bad time…all this happening."

"You'll tell him?"

Adam nodded. "Hop Sing's coming to town tomorrow to bring me clothes. I'll ride back with him after…" Adam stopped himself. "…after Hop Sing does what he needs to do." Adam figured it wasn't really a lie; it was probably a sin of omission at best but right now it had to suffice.

"If you need me," Clem said, "I'll be at Doc Martin's sitting watch with a rifle. If whoever tried to kill Roy finds out he didn't, he may try again and I'm not about to give 'im the chance."

After Clem left, Adam was glad that he had hidden the book. It wouldn't have done to have had Clem see it; although he was only the deputy, he was sharp-eyed and may have seen it and asked what it was. Adam felt under the mattress and the book was still there so he lay back down. He felt that he wouldn't be able to sleep. Roy was shot and Adam was sure it had something to do with whom he had questioned and Adam's mind went over and over all that had happened since Roy had shown up at the Ponderosa that morning. And then he thought of Roy lying there in the backroom at Doc Martin's, being guarded by Clem and he felt sadness, the same sadness as if a well-loved relative had been shot.

Adam thought of his father, how upset he would be when he found out that his old friend had been nearly killed, but knowing his father, Adam knew Ben would insist on Roy staying at the Ponderosa. Clem would probably agree in order to keep Roy safe. Roy, of course, would protest that he was fine and would bluster and complain. But he would end up going.

Then Adam thought about Hop Sing going with him to Chinatown and what the ledger might say. And then he thought of Dolores again and the lock of hair in his jacket pocket. He sat up and leaning, reached for his trail jacket that was thrown over the chair by the bed. He pulled it onto his lap and reaching into the pocket, Adam pulled out the lock of long, fragrant hair. He brought it up to his nose to smell and then lay down, holding the lock in one hand and stroking it with his thumb. It calmed him somehow. "I should have married you, Dolores," he said into the darkness. "I'm so sorry I didn't. So very sorry. Forgive me," he said as his voice broke and he found himself crying for his loss. Crying for Dolores. And in his mind, somewhere in the deep recesses, he remembered that the name Dolores meant "sorrows."

TBC


	8. Part 8

_A guest reviewer stated that Adam would never keep evidence from Roy—that this was not the Adam s/he knew and therefore s/he would not read anymore. But I disagree about what Adam would do—in "My Son, My Son," not only did Adam not tell Roy where Eden was, he even intentionally led the posse in the opposite direction. And in "Song in the Dark," when his friend broke out of jail, Adam told him to go stay in the bunkhouse instead of taking him back to town._

Part 8

Hop Sing's knocking woke Adam and he quickly sat up, panicked-his breathing, ragged.

"Mistah Adam you awake?"

"Just a minute, Hop Sing," Adam called out. He stood up and took a deep breath. The room was cold and he was only wearing his trousers; he had fallen asleep with them on. He noticed that he still had the lock of black, shiny hair in his hand. He put it back in his jacket's inside pocket. "Close to my heart, Dolores," he whispered. Adam opened the door and Hop Sing stomped in, frowning carrying a carpet bag. He was obviously annoyed.

"Why Hop Sing need come so early? Mistah Hoss not get hot breakfast this morning."

"Well, Mister Hoss will survive." Adam closed the door after Hop Sing entered completely and then put the carpet bag on the bed.

"I bring Mistah Adam what he need for few days."

"Thanks, Hop Sing." Adam started the fire again in the room's fireplace and then opened the bag, taking out a clean shirt. He slipped it on, buttoned it partway up, folded the collar in and then found his shaving kit and the tooth powder. He moved over to the mirror and the pitcher and bowl on the bureau.

"I need you to translate something for me," Adam said. "Look under the mattress on this side and feel around until you find a small book. "Adam shook some tooth powder into one palm and with a dampened finger, began to rub the powder on his teeth, rinsing and then spitting into the bowl.

"Here," Hop Sing said holding up the small book, "I find."

"Good," Adam said. "Tell me what it says, would you." Adam started making a froth of the shaving soap and painting it on his face and neck with the brush. Then using the hotel's attached strop, Adam honed his razor and then began to shave. In the mirror, Adam could see Hop Sing; he looked puzzled.

"What is it," Adam asked, his neck only partially shaved.

"Can't read," Hop Sing said, holding the book out.

"Isn't it written in Chinese?" Adam asked, holding his razor in mid-air.

"Yes," Hop said, "but not makes sense. It written in-written in-what is word-meaning hidden. Hop Sing know words but not what they mean. It hidden."

"Do you mean code? It's written in code?"

"Yes, yes," Hop Sing said, pointing at the page of the book. "It written in code. Hidden meaning."

"Oh, Hell," Adam said. He turned to finish shaving and Hop Sing continued to flip the pages. "Will you take me to Chinatown? I need to talk to a woman named Plum Jade-know her?" Adam glanced at Hop Sing's reflection and saw the look of disapproval on his face.

"Hop Sing know where Plum Jade live. Why Mistah Adam want to talk to her. Pah!"

Adam sighed and stood up. "She might know how to read that code for one thing…and I want to talk to her about her….employer." Adam returned to shaving.

"Mistah Adam, now that Miss Dolores dead, Mistah Adam should stay away. You bring disgrace to father's honorable name. I know you, Mistah Adam," Hop Sing said, shaking his finger at Adam. "Evah since small boy, Mistah Adam always do what he want-and women! Mistah Adam have odd taste in many women. You let matter go. Mistah Roy-he need book. I help him understand-not you. You get in trouble and Hop Sing not help raise you only to see Mistah Adam shamed."

Adam turned around, wiping the rest of the shaving soap off his face and closing up his razor. "Sheriff Coffee's been shot. He's in Doctor Martin's surgery."

Hop Sing stood, his mouth open but saying nothing. 'Finally,' Adam thought. 'Something can shut him up.' Adam readjusted the collar of his shirt and buttoned it higher. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and put on his boots. "Give me a minute and we'll stop by the surgery and then go out to Chinatown. Okay?"

Hop Sing turned to look at him and nodded-he was truly upset by Adam's news. Adam stood up and then reached under the bed for the chamber pot. He wished that Virginia City's hotels were as sophisticated as those in San Francisco; those actually had running water in the rooms as well as tubs that drained and water closets.

Noticing that Adam was unbuttoning his trousers, Hop Sing said, "Hop Sing wait outside." And Hop Sing, still holding the book, went to wait in the hall.

Adam and Hop Sing walked over to Doctor Martin's on the outskirts of town, between Chinatown and Virginia City proper. Many times Doctor Paul Martin had been wakened by some Chinese men dragging in another one who had been stabbed over a gambling debt.

The sun was out today and it was warmer and seeing the sun always made Adam feel more optimistic about events. If the walk was for another reason, Adam would have even been joyous. The reached the office and Adam and Hop Sing entered and Doctor Martin was in the outer office.

"Mornin' Adam, Hop Sing. What can I do you for? You sick, Hop Sing?"

Adam had a small smile of amusement while Hop Sing fussed. "Hop Sing make own medicine when sick-not need yours. Mine help body more-set body right."

Doctor Martin laughed because although he teased Hop Sing about his herbal remedies, he had seen that some of them worked, and worked wonders. Although he still referred to them jokingly as "witches' brew," he had seen them work as if by magic. Nevertheless, he still had to treat them as if they were barbarous cures and not worth his respect and often asked Hop Sing if he had enough toads and bat wings, alluding to "Macbeth's" witches. The irony was that many of the shops in Chnatown sold dried frogs and dried bats as well as pig testicles and desiccated lizards.

"How's Roy?" Adam asked. "Can we see him?"

"He's in the back. Go ahead but speak first so Clem doesn't blast a hole through you."

"Clem?" Adam called out. "Don't shoot. It's me and Hop Sing." Adam pushed through the portieres and saw Clem sitting in a chair against the rear wall while Roy lay on his back.

"I'm glad to see you," Clem said, standing up. "I need you to sit here and watch while I go deputize Sam Ford. I need to start lookin' for who shot Roy but I don't want to leave him unguarded."

"I tell you what," Adam said. "I'll sit until Sam gets here but I want to take Roy out to the Ponderosa later, maybe tomorrow. I know Pa would insist."

"And I make Mistah Roy better at Ponderosa. I make poultice-take evil out of wound, cure him faster."

A weak voice rose from the cot, "Oh, now I'm gonna die for sure." Adam and Clem laughed. And Adam was relieved to hear Roy and to know that he still had his droll humor despite being dosed with laudanum.

"I make you all better, Mistah Roy. You come to Ponderosa. Hop Sing make you well." Hop Sing leaned over the narrow cot.

Roy never even opened his eyes but in a near-whisper responded, "You just want to get me out of the picture so that third cousin of yours can run his crooked Mahjong games and give you a cut of the winnings."

"Mistah Roy need stop talking-bad for you. Stop talking." Hop Sing said with a furrowed brow.

Clem turned to leave when Hoss walked in, parting the drapes separating the front office from the surgery. "What's this I hear? I ride into town and the first thing I hear is that Roy's done been shot."

"Ask Adam about it-he knows everything that I know. I got to go deputize Sam." And Clem left.

Adam pulled Hoss aside and asked him what he was doing in town and Hoss explained that he was supposed to be out checking the fencing on the west line and then he was supposed to drop salt licks but he was so damn hungry that he came to town to either go to The Food Bucket to eat three breakfast specials or find Hop Sing and drag him home by his queue to scramble him a dozen eggs and a side of bacon. Adam convinced Hoss to sit by Roy while he and Hop Sing went to Chinatown and although Hoss claimed that if he didn't eat soon, they'd find a skeleton sitting in the chair, a rifle balanced on its bony knees, he'd stay.

Adam strode into Chinatown, Hop Sing slightly ahead of him. They made a comical picture, the tall dark-haired man with the elegant carriage and the short, bow-legged Chinese man who always led with his head. And Adam was glad that Hop Sing was there. Not too many Anglos entered this far into Chinatown. Most people just stayed at the periphery where the open market stalls were and where a person could buy a chicken or a goose as well as fresh vegetables. The laundries were also here, not far into town. Only a few took the chance and delved further to visit the shops where they hoped to buy some tincture or rolled pill that could help with impotence or fertility or, if they paid enough and had the right connections, opium.

The people they passed glanced at the two men, especially Adam and some of them looked away if he met their eye and some gave a partial nod or bow. Adam tipped his hat in recognition as Hop Sing plowed through the people, not looking right or left and every once in a while saying something authoritative in Chinese and flinging his arm up, and so they continued until they reached a small house.

"Plum Jade live here with daughter. You wait here, Mistah Adam. Hop Sing go ask for old woman."

Adam nodded while Hop Sing went to the door and rapped on it. A woman, about thirty came to the door and she and Hop Sing exchanged words. A small boy wearing a quilted jacket that was too large for him, and with bare legs and feet, came to the door as well. The woman called into the house and Adam could hear an older voice shout back. Hop Sing shouted past the daughter, and Adam knew by the tone of his voice that Hop Sing was demanding. Adam sighed. He wished he spoke Chinese.


	9. Part 9

Part 9

Plum Jade came to the door, dismissing the young woman who went inside and who pulled the boy with her. Plum Jade looked at Adam and Hop Sing and Adam tipped his hat to her. "Good morning," Adam said.

Plum Jade gave a slight bow. "What Mistah Adam want?" Plum Jade asked, ignoring Hop Sing even though it had been he and what he had said that had caused her to come to the door.

"I found this book in Miss Dolores' room," Adam said, pulling out the small ledger. "Hop Sing said that it was written in code and I wondered if you knew what it says." Plum Jade just stared at him. "You are the one who wrote it, aren't you? To my knowledge, Dolores spoke no Chinese except what you may have taught her and she certainly wrote no Chinese."

In her best ingratiating tone, Plum Jade asked, "How Mistah Adam find book? Plum Jade not even know where book hid."

"Mistah Adam," he said, imitating here pronunciation, " knows many things so be careful what you tell me about this book-make it the truth. Now, can you tell me what it says or not?"

Hop Sing stood watching the two of them. He knew the look in Plum Jade's eyes; she was afraid but she also was wondering how she could profit from the information if she chose to tell them the contents. The look was common enough among the inhabitants in Chinatown; most of the Chinese here had left China due to drought or extreme poverty and half of them had died on the trip over so they had to be cunning to survive.

"I know maybe-maybe not." She stood quietly, waiting.

Adam gave a small chuckle. "How much would it take for Plum Jade to know?" He knew what she wanted and as Plum Jade stood, Adam watched her performing calculations in her mind-then her expression changed and fear took over.

"No money-no money. Plum Jade not know." Then she started to turn but Hop Sing reached out and grabbed her arm and started yelling and they shouted back and forth in rapid-fire Chinese, Hop Sing flinging his arms and Plum Jade making dismissive gestures with her hands and arms, throwing her hands over her head. Then she went into the small house and slammed the door.

"Well, what was all that about?" Adam said.

"She say she know nothing but I know she lie. She afraid-Plum Jade old woman and she say she forget everything-old people forget. But she not forget, she just afraid."

"The answer is here," Adam said, holding up the small book. "I know it is." Adam walked up and rapped on the door again. Someone shouted from the inside and Adam was sure it was for him to go away but he didn't. He knocked again and then called out that for Miss Dolores, for justice for Miss Dolores, he needed to know what the book said. He waited and there was no response but silence. Slowly he gave up and he and Hop Sing went back to the hotel room where Adam ordered lunch for them both and then they sat and ate while Hop Sing mulled over the symbols in the book.

"This is what person pay," Hop said, pointing to the line for numbers, "and this is what they want-what Miss Dolores do. That is part in code-in symbols or words that mean something. This-this word similar to symbol for man shaving head-here." Hop Sing pointed to his forehead and temple. "Han men shave head-every ten days. This symbol for that."

Adam sat puzzled. He couldn't see a connection with anything. "Go on. Anything else?"

"This," Hop Sing said, "is symbol for lady shoe."

"That one I understand," Adam said. "Go on."

"This one symbol for chicken and this one rooster, but not rooster….what you call…capon." Hop Sing smiled broadly because he remembered the English word.

"A chicken," Adam said, "and a capon. Sounds like they're ordering dinner. What else?"

"This one," Hop Sing said, pointing at a random sign, "is symbol for bound foot-sign of beauty. Men in China love small foot is what you call…..ero…"

"Erotic?" Adam offered. Hop Sing grinned and nodded. "Yes," Adam continued, "well I've read about it-a foot so small that it can fit in a man's mouth."

"Yes-so small." Hop Sing pointed to another. "This is thing-we call whip. But look this."

Adam leaned closer to see. "You call horse whip but not…a short stick…a…a"

"A riding crop?" Adam asked.

"What that?" Hop Sing looked suspiciously at Adam.

"It's a short type of cane that a person, a woman uses to 'spur' on a horse-encourage it to go faster."

"Okay, if you say." Hop Sing said, shrugging. "That probably it."

Adam sat and realized that the symbols indicated what Dolores' clients asked to be done and how much she charged. He did notice that as the pages went on, the amounts charged the clients became greater and greater.

"This," Hop Sing said, pointing at a random one and with a naughty grin on his face, "is a symbol for ram in rut and this symbol for a tree-a pine-a white pine. White pine mean long life. I wonder if that you, Mistah Adam?"

"Just go to the next one," Adam said and urged Hop Sing on to other symbols. Finally, Adam had a very good idea of how the ledger was arranged but it still gave him no clue as to whom the people were. Adam sent Hop Sing home and told him to tell his father that Adam would bring Roy out to the ranch tomorrow if Doc Martin approved. To say that he was sorry that he hadn't been able to tell his father himself about Roy having been shot but supposed that Hoss already had.

Adam lay down in his hotel room to think, to try to makes sense of the symbols and their connections and as soon as he did, there was a knock on the door. Adam was about to answer it but suddenly became cautious and asked who it was. It was Clem.

"What are you doing here, Clem? Have I been neglecting my duty because I left Hoss with Roy?"

Clem gave a slight chuckle. "No, I just came to tell you that I found a small valise dropped into that ditch behind the court house and that I think was Dolores' and since I know that she was a…friend of yours, I was wondering if you knew for sure."

"Where is it? You don't have it with you."

"I have it locked up in my office and if you'd stop by when you have the time, well, I'd appreciate it."

"What about now?"

"Well, I have to talk to a few more people and then I'll be back at the office. Come by after my supper-I'll be there."

"Have you looked inside?"

"Well, yes, yes, I have. I have a right to."

"I wasn't going to question you." Adam smiled to himself; Clem obviously felt that he had given in to prurient interest and felt he had to justify himself. "And…?"

"Okay, I guess I can tell you. It had a riding crop and a little box of razors and some leather thongs along with just one shoe. Just one. I can't make sense of that. And there were some vials and salves and such. And, well, some things that looked like…well, a woman wouldn't need a man if she had them." Clem actually blushed. "I suppose they were just tools of the trade if they were hers. Don't know who would throw it in the ditch or why."

"If it was Dolores' "Adam said, "-and I think it was-it seems that it may have been Plum Jade; she was devoted to Dolores and would want to protect her from prying eyes. And, Clem, I wasn't quite upfront with you or Roy-I have this." Adam walked over to the nightstand and picked up the ledger. "This was in Dolores' room-it was hidden under the bed, tucked between the mattress and a slat. It apparently lists her clients who seem to be symbolized by various Chinese characters. Hop Sing did his best but he told me that whoever wrote it-and I think that was Plum Jade-wasn't quite accurate in their pen strokes or just made up what they couldn't remember. Anyway, take it. I'm weary of the whole thing and just want to go home tomorrow. I'd go today but I have to wait on Roy and how he'll be."

Clem took the book from Adam and looked at him. "You should have given this to Roy or me earlier."

"Yes, yes, I know. Arrest me for all the good it's done me."

Clem told Adam that he didn't need to come by the office to look at the valise since they both agreed that it was more than likely Dolores' and that he would try to get someone to help him 'decode' the book. So Adam lay back down on the bed. He was tired of thinking but his mind just went around and around thinking about all the Chinese words he had been through with Hop Sing and what they could possibly symbolize and who they could symbolize. Then an idea struck him; he would go to the bank and take out a draft for two hundred. Plum Jade wouldn't be able to refuse that, especially if Adam told her that she could use the money to move her and her family away, that she would be able to get away from the whole thing to a better place, to live better.

Adam was upset with himself that he hadn't thought of it initially. "Idiot," he said to himself and he realized that he was too close to the matter-he couldn't think through things and their consequences properly. He needed to find out what Plum Jade had to say-and Adam was certain that she had more to say-and then he could tell Clem so that Adam could be rid of it and have peace of mind that he had done all that he could before he left for the Ponderosa the next day. So he put on his hat and trail jacket, buckled on his gun belt, and headed out the door to the bank.

Adam didn't bother to look around as he walked single-mindedly toward the bank until he heard someone call his name. He stopped and looked behind him and saw Lucas Scott who owned the Grain and Feed hurrying toward him. Adam sighed. He knew that he had a look of impatience on his face but Lucas kept coming; he also wondered why, just because he had made it no secret that he visited Dolores, all these men were now coming to him for help.

"Adam," Lucas said as he caught up with Adam, "Can I walk and talk?"

"Sure" Adam said, "I'm heading for the bank."

"Clem came by to see me-seems that he somehow got wind that I had visited Dolores every so often." Adam looked at Lucas and then Lucas added, "Okay, maybe more than every so often but I'd like to know how he knew. Did you tell him?"

"How the hell would I know that you saw her?"

"Maybe she talked to you about the other men she saw, you know, named names or such."

Adam stopped and faced Lucas. "I didn't know any names-Dolores never told me. How Clem knew you saw her, I don't know. Ask him, not me." Adam started to go on and Lucas held on to his arm.

"Adam, I know...I mean for you it's different but you know that I'm married and although you may not believe it, I love my wife. I really do but married life, well, it becomes a little dull so every once and a while, well, I'd visit Dolores. My wife, Linda, she just wouldn't understand about certain things I like; if I'd asked her for these things…well…she would've thrown me out of the house."

Adam tried to rouse some sympathy for Lucas but found he had none. "And what are you going to do now, Lucas?" Lucas stood with his mouth open and then Adam continued on his way to the bank.

Adam entered the bank; it was close to closing and the bank manager, Trent Hudson was in the front talking to the teller. He greeted Adam with great warmth; they were old friends, having known each other since childhood.

"Adam, what are you doing in here so late? Getting money to pay the drovers?"

"No, no drovers. I just need about two hundred in a draft."

"Francis here, will help you," the manager said pointing to the teller. "And Adam, you'll have to come by for dinner some time. Angela mentioned just the other day-we read in the paper about that nasty business and, you know, the rumors about you-and Angela said that we hadn't seen you for a while. We want you and everyone else to know that we don't believe any rumors about you being involved."

"Well," Adam said, not wanting to be rude but tired of making small talk, "have Angela pick an evening and I'll be there."

"I'll ask her and I'll let you know," the bank manager said and he went back into the office.

"I'm not too late am I? You looked as if you were closing up." Adam asked the bank teller.

"No, sir, although if you hadn't come in, I'd be cashing out my drawer. But how can I help you?"

"I want a draft taken from my personal account for two hundred."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Cartwright." Francis went about pulling out the needed documents and the ledger. "You said your own account, right?"

"Yes." Adam leaned on the counter; he was tired physically as well as mentally.

"All right," the teller said, "And who do you want me to make the draft out to?"

Adam hadn't thought of how silly it would sound so he cleared his throat and said, "Plum Jade. Make it out to Plum Jade."

"What?" The teller looked confused.

"The name on the draft should be Plum Jade."

"Is that a Chinese name?"

"Yes," Adam said in a tone that cut off any more questions. "Plum Jade. P-L-U-M… J-A-D-E." Adam spelled out the letters indicating they were two separate words.

"I don't know if we can do this, Mr. Cartwright, I mean she doesn't have an account here-whoever she is-and we always make them show something that says who they are."

"Oh," Adam said, trying not to sound too threatening, "I think you can."

"Well, I better ask Mr. Hudson."

"You go right ahead and do that," Adam said, not bothering to keep the annoyance out of his voice. Adam watched through the glass partition as the teller went back and talked to his manager who nodded and made a motion that indicated for the teller not to ask such stupid questions. The teller backed out and then turned and walked to Adam.

"Mr. Hudson said it was fine-just one question. Is this Plum Jade going to cash the draft here? "

"She's going to cash it anywhere she prefers."

"Okay. Mr. Hudson just said that it would be easier for her to cash it here."

"Well, I'll tell her that."

Adam watched as the teller finished the draft. He signed to authorize the draft and then left, folding the draft in half and tucking it into his inside pocket-and when he did, he felt the smoothness of the lock of Dolores' hair; he had forgotten it was there and a sharp pang of grief hit him as he remembered her face, the way she looked at him when he left her and Adam realized now that her look begged him to stay longer-but he was tired and was afraid she would ask for more from him. But now he realized that she hadn't wanted to be alone. That knowledge reinvigorated his determination and he left in the direction of Chinatown at a quick pace.

TBC


	10. Part 10

Part 10

Adam wished that Hop Sing were with him as he maneuvered through the narrow streets. He tried to imitate Hop Sing's attitude-walking aggressively toward his goal, plowing his way through the crowd of people conducting business, not minding the stares of others but Adam wondered if some thug wasn't going to stop him and under the guise of asking him if he needed help, attempt to rob him. After all, here Adam was the interloper; he was on terra incognita.

Finally, after trying to remember at which shops, which stalls, Hop Sing had turned, Adam came upon the little house, better described as a shack, where they had found Plum Jade. Adam knocked authoritatively on the flimsy door and a voice called out to him from the other side but the voice spoke Chinese. Adam assumed that it had asked who it was on the other side and Adam answered by giving his name and asking for Plum Jade. Then he waited, looking around at the old man who sat in front of the next house, smoking a pipe and watching him. Adam smelled the odor of opium wafting from the man. He had become familiar with the scent when he had been out to sea and made calls of port in China.

The door opened and this time Plum Jade peeked out. "Go away, Mistah Adam. Leave Plum Jade alone. I old woman. I know nothing."

"I have business to talk with you," Adam said. "I also have a draft for two hundred for Plum Jade and her family. Look." Adam reached into his pocket, pulled out the draft, unfolded it and showed it to her." She stared, puzzled, and then Adam surmised that she had never seen a draft before or possibly couldn't read English since her written Chinese, according to Hop Sing, wasn't quite clean either. "This says that the money is drawn from the Virginia City bank. This is your name in English. This says two hundred dollars and here it has the amount in numbers."

Plum Jade nodded slightly and then looked at Adam, still puzzled. Adam wished now that he had brought cash but then, had he brought cash, he could have more easily been robbed. "All you have to do is go to the bank here-or any bank in any city or town-and sign your name here." Adam turned the draft over and pointed to the place where she would sign. "When you do, you'll be given the money. You can take your family anywhere you like, anywhere you would feel safe-maybe San Francisco. Anywhere."

Plum Jade looked at him and then, stepping aside, she opened the door and motioned for Adam to come in. Adam wasn't sure what he had expected but the small home was clean despite having a dirt floor. A small furnace in the room kept it warm and off the main room was a small kitchen area. Adam smelled cabbage and onions and garlic, the vegetables most used in cooking, and there was a slight smell of patchouli. There were rolled mats, more than likely where they slept, and a small room also off the main room where Adam guessed the young woman and her husband probably slept for their privacy in marital relations. On the opposite wall was a small altar where two small statues stood-the household gods, and Adam saw that there was a stand for incense-hence the patchouli.

There were two children who stared at him; the boy he had seen before and a small girl, no more than a year old, who dropped onto her rear when Adam entered and then decided to crawl away. The young woman bowed slightly to Adam but wouldn't meet his eye. She told the small boy something and the boy, practically staring over his shoulder the whole time at Adam, went off into the side room. The woman picked up the infant and carried her into the side room as well.

"What Mistah Adam want from me?"

"I want you to come with me to the Sheriff's office. I gave the book, the ledger, to the deputy and I want you to tell him who the Chinese symbols represent."

"Plum Jade afraid. Mistah Adam not know but Missy Dolores, she need money so she start asking more and more money from people. Many people upset because it cost them so much but Missy Dolores only person who help them-who do what they want. Some men-they want bad things but Missy Dolores, she do to them, but cost them more and more. Many argue with her but she just laugh and tell them go somewhere else, try find another-ask their wives. Then she ask if they want her to show their wife what they like. I even throw away her…her…bag that she keep things in. I love Missy Dolores-she good to me. I don't want anyone know what she do because she need money." Plum Jade wrung her hands; it was obvious that she was nervous.

"Why did she need money so badly?" Adam asked.

Jade Plum looked down, considering whether or not to tell him. "Missy Dolores, she have husband and son."

Adam felt as if he had been punched; all this time Dolores had been married and he never knew. "Where are they?" he barely managed to say.

"They in Sonora. She send money to them all the time. That where her money go. She say that they not know where she is and what she do-she have money sent from Genoa to them. Buster, man who stand at back door-he go every two months and send money. But her husband, he find out where she is and he say that she send more money or he tell Miss Tessa about her and that he come to Virginia City and live and tell everyone that she his wife. That why she ask men for more money."

Adam sat and mulled over the information. He considered the information in the book and realized that it may not hold the key to who murdered Dolores at all-it may have been her husband. He may have come in person to collect. Li-Li had said that Dolores was nervous while waiting for Adam and that Dolores had complained that he was late; Adam thought now that Dolores must have had an appointment to meet someone out back after he left. And although Dolores had wanted Adam to leave, she hadn't at the same time. He now realized why he was disturbed after he left her; the ambiguity of her attitude had done it. And then he considered the fact that Dolores had never asked him for more than the usual twenty-five dollars-never; he would have gladly paid her fifty for the pleasure she gave him had she only asked.

"Come with me, Plum Jade," Adam said. "Here's the draft but you have to come with me and tell Clem, the deputy." He handed the paper to her and she stood and stared at it. Then she reached out and practically snatched it from his hand as if she was afraid he was just taunting her.

"I can take to bank in other city? They give Plum Jade the money?" She looked suspiciously at Adam.

"Any bank. I promise you that. They will take the money out of my account and give it to you."

"You have that much money and you give it to me?"

Adam smiled. "Yes, I have that much money and yes, they will give it to you. See, it's on the paper there. It says to pay it to you."

"Plum Jade go with you." Then she called out and the young woman barely came into the room. Plum Jade talked to her, gesturing and the young woman nodded, went back into the room and then returned holding a blue quilted mandarin-collared jacket. Plum Jade handed the bank draft to the young woman who tucked it inside her clothing. Adam then held the jacket while Plum Jade slipped it on and closed the frog fastenings up to her neck. She looked at Adam and he assured her that everything would be fine and the two left the house.

Adam and Plum Jade walked quickly through Chinatown and one woman called out something to her; Plum Jade answered and the other woman nodded. Adam was going to ask what the woman had said but he was too weary to talk; all he wanted was to deliver Plum Jade to Clem and then to go back to his hotel room. And he was glad that she was with him. It was now dark and Adam knew he would probably have become lost in the narrow, winding streets and again he wished that he had never become involved but he was in it up to his neck and couldn't stop now.

They reached the edge of Virginia City proper and Adam felt relief. They walked quickly and there were few people on the street; it was now dark and so the shops were closed and yet it wasn't late enough for the saloons or brothels to pull people in. Most people were home eating.

And as they passed the alley between the haberdasher and the bank, Adam heard someone call his name. He stopped and turned around and Jade Plum did as well; a man walked out of the alley.

"It Mr. Hudson," Plum Jade said, grabbing onto Adam's arm. Adam looked at her, surprised that she knew him.

"Hello, Lucas. Angela know you're out wandering the streets?" Adam thought it was odd that Lucas would be waiting in an alley.

Lucas grinned. "She's used to my late hours. What's going on, Adam?"

"Oh, well, we're just on our way over to see Clem." Adam felt Plum Jade grab his arm tighter and he turned back to look at her. When he turned back around, Lucas stood in front of him, a gun pointed at him.

"What the hell…" Adam's mind didn't seem to work. He just stared and thought it was odd.

"Just take out your gun-with your left hand, if you would, and drop it."

"You can't be serious," Adam said. "This has to be a joke."

"Just do it, Adam. Please. And slowly."

Adam stood for a second before it sank in that Lucas was serious. He realized that Plum Jade had let go of him. He gently loosened the trigger loop and then pulled his gun out of the holster with two fingers of his left hand and let it drop. It made a dull sound on the wooden sidewalk.

"Now you and her, go to the bank door in the alley-back there. C'mon. Both of you" He motioned with his gun and Adam turned and walked into the alley as did Plum Jade, her eyes big. Adam's mind started churning, trying to make sense of everything. "Open the door, Adam. I didn't lock it."

Adam looked back and saw Lucas stoop down and pick up Adam's gun and slip it in his waistband. Adam opened the door and the three walked into the darkness.

"Light that small lamp, Adam, and don't get any ideas." Lucas stood as Adam lit the small lamp and Adam noticed, even in the slight light, that Lucas' hand was slightly shaking. "Now you two get into the vault. By Monday morning you should both be dead-suffocated. I'll just need to find a way to get your bodies out of here but since I'm the only one allowed into the vault, I'm sure I'll find a way."

Adam looked behind him and saw that the door to the vault was partially open. Suffocating in blackness was never what he had envisioned as his death. "What's this all about, Lucas."

"I thought I'd wait for you on your way back to the hotel-I didn't expect you to show up with her." He pointed to Plum Jade. "She knows me, don't you, you yellow-skinned old bag of bones. Every time we came to see that conniving bitch, you saw us and I saw your face, your expression. You don't think I'm much of a man do you? You with your look of superiority and you aren't anything but a servant, washing up and cleaning up all the mess people made in her bed. And you think you're so high and mighty."

Plum Jade backed up and starting talking rapidly in Chinese but even though neither man spoke Chinese it was obvious by her tone and the sneer on her face that she was disdainful of him. Plum Jade had nothing but contempt and scorn for Lucas Hudson. And then she spat. And at that, Lucas fired two shots into her and she fell. She died with a look of surprise on her aged and lined face.

Adam stood, shocked and then he started to go to her as she lay on the floor.

"Don't, Adam. I'll don't want to shoot you here."

Adam looked at Lucas. "So you do plan to shoot me."

"I have to Adam. You leave me no choice now." Lucas was sweating profusely, the rivulets rolling down his cheeks like tears. Lucas was a handsome man and had been married to his wife, Angela, a beautiful woman, for over seven years; they were well-liked and helped form the core of Virginia City society.

"Why, Lucas? Why did you kill Dolores?"

"She wanted more money, Adam. She told me that…that she wouldn't see us anymore if I didn't pay her one hundred a visit. I told her I couldn't afford that. She told me to embezzle from the bank-that I had access to all sorts of money. I begged her and then she started calling me names. I slapped her. She laughed at me and called me a 'steer' and I slapped her again. The she said that she was going to tell everyone-that she didn't want my money, that she was going to tell everyone and they would laugh at us. I couldn't have that, Adam. She was going to tell everyone about us. And so I hit her harder and harder and then…then I took her hair, that long beautiful hair, and I grabbed two, thick hunks and wrapped them around her neck and pulled and pulled until she stopped breathing. She tried to claw at my hands but I held her hair at such at distance that she couldn't. And then she grabbed onto her hair, that hair that she was so proud of. It's a bit of irony, don't you think, Adam?"

"What do you mean by 'us?" Adam had found it odd that Lucas would say, "us." Did he mean himself and Dolores?

"Angela….and me. We went for Angela. I just watched."

Suddenly Adam realized what Lucas meant and he said, actually to himself, "The chicken and the capon." He understood the symbols in the ledger and why Lucas had been so frightened, so desperate to shut Dolores up. She had ventured where she shouldn't have and now, not only Dolores, but Plum Jade had paid with their lives. And Adam was going to have to pay with his life for her folly as well.

"Now let's go, Adam. For a second, I thought of taking you into the vault and shooting you there but I have another idea. Let's go to my house. Just behave as if we're old friends-we are, you know-no one will think anything about it."

"What about her?" Adam asked, pointing to Plum Jade.

"I'll come back and take care of her. I'll figure out what to do with her. But you made it easy on me, Adam. You're the last person seen with her, the last person seen with Dolores and from what I understand, quite a few people saw you talking to Roy Coffee before he was shot. I guess ol' Adam Cartwright just lost his mind, just snapped and went about killing people. And then you were going to kill me. People will buy it." Lucas smiled.

Adam took a deep sigh. He had to admit that Lucas was clever; Adam had innocently set himself up for his own murder as self-defense for Lucas. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"Let's go, Adam."

Adam walked out of the bank and headed for Lucas' house, staying about two steps ahead of him. His mind was trying to find a way out of the situation, trying to decide if he could turn and wrestle the gun away from Lucas. Lucas was strong, not some fat, soft-bellied man who ate too much so Adam would have to be careful to wait for the right moment.

"Adam!" Adam stopped when he heard Hoss' voice call out to him. Lucas froze. "Adam, Pa sent me out to find you." Hoss came striding over wearing his bulky jacket against the cold. Adam said nothing. "What's wrong with you, Adam?"

Lucas turned and Hoss saw the pistol in his hand.

"What the hell?" Hoss stared. He didn't know what to make out of what was happening. Adam was with his friend, Lucas Hudson and Lucas had a gun pulled and pointed at him. Hoss glanced at Adam and noticed that Adam's gun was gone. Adam jerked his head at Lucas and as Hoss moved slightly, Adam knocked down Lucas' wrist with the side of his hand and Lucas cried out and the gun fell onto the sidewalk and spun off to land in the dirt.

Hoss pulled his gun and told Lucas not to try anything. "It's over, Lucas. It's all over now," Adam said as he pulled his gun out of Lucas' waistband and held it on the man who had once been his friend. "Let's go see Clem."

"Adam," Hoss asked, "you gonna explain this to me?'

"Later, Hoss. I don't have it quite clear myself."

There was Tessa, the other girls who worked in the house, Clem, Doctor Martin and Adam along with the rest of the Cartwrights at Dolores' funeral. Her husband stood outside the fence surrounding the graveyard and watched but he never went to the site unless he did so after the others left. It was a short ceremony and although Adam had offered to pay, Miss Tessa said that they took care of their own and refused his offer.

Two weeks later, Ben and Roy were playing checkers on the front porch of the Ponderosa when Clem rode up. It was an unusually warm afternoon and Ben thought that it might cheer up Roy to be outside; he wasn't a good invalid-just became more and more grumpy. The two men stopped playing and looked up from the checker board as Clem dismounted and tied up his horse.

"Well, who's winning?" Clem asked, walking over to them.

"I am. I've won the last three games," Ben said, gloating.

"That's only because I've been shot," Roy said. "If I was full-bodied right now, I'd beat you ."

"Oh, really," Ben said, "I think I remember that you once said that you could beat me on your worst day and with your right arm tied behind your back." Ben said smugly.

"Well, then," Roy said, jutting his chin out, "you must just be cheatin'." Clem and Ben laughed and then Adam stepped out on to the porch.

"Hey, Clem'" Adam said. "I assume you have news about Lucas?"

"Actually, I do. The jurt came back with a not guilty. Despite your testimony about what he said, there wasn't enough evidence to find him guilty of Dolores' murder, or should I say, Dolores Hanson's murder. And there was nothing we could do to prove that he shot Roy although I'm sure he did. And Adam, we found Dolores' husband. Seems that he married Dolores when she was just fourteen and by fifteen, she had a child, a boy. Hanson said that she left him a few months later and never came back. With the child and all, he never had the time to look for her but since the boy turned ten, he tracked down her envelopes-where they came from. And he admitted that he was blackmailing her. You believe that? Blackmailing your own wife."

"Yeah," Adam said, "I do. I'd just about believe anything about anyone anymore. So Lucas gets off?"

"No, no he doesn't. He's gonna be tried for the murder of Plum Jade and I need you to testify about that as well. My hope is that the jury might be a little more sympathetic to her than they were to Dolores. I couldn't help but wonder how many of the men sitting on the jury knew Dolores, you know, in that way."

"I know, Clem," Adam said. "I'll be looking at every man in Virginia City I see and wondering the same thing for a long while."

"I bet the wives will be looking at their husbands and wondering too," Roy said as he jumped one of Ben's pieces. "We'll see who wins this game, Ben. You're letting their conversation distract you from what's important."

Adam gave a chuckle at the two older men playing checkers and then offered Clem some coffee which he accepted as he sat down on the front porch to see who would win the checker game. And as Adam walked to the kitchen for the coffee, he thought about the lock of Dolores' hair that was safely tucked in his bureau drawer and he considered that it was probably time to let go of her, to be rid of it. And in his mind, he told Dolores goodbye.

~Finis~


End file.
